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Which Journal to Publish in and How

Which Journal to Publish in and How. Barbara Gastel , MD, MPH Professor, Texas A&M University Knowledge Community Editor, AuthorAID. Deciding Whether (or When) to Publish. Some factors to consider: quality of the work, extent of the work, interest to others Suggestions:

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Which Journal to Publish in and How

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  1. Which Journal to Publish inand How Barbara Gastel, MD, MPH Professor, Texas A&M University Knowledge Community Editor, AuthorAID

  2. Deciding Whether (or When) to Publish • Some factors to consider: quality of the work, extent of the work, interest to others • Suggestions: • Seek guidance in this regard from others in your field who are more experienced in publishing journal articles. • Present your work orally first. Doing so can help in deciding whether the work is publishable and in shaping the paper.

  3. Identifying a Target Journal • Decide early (before drafting the paper). Do not write the paper and then look for a journal. (Why?) • Look for journals that have published work similar to yours. • Consider journals that have published work you cite.

  4. Some Factors to Consider • Audience • Prestige • Access • Impact • Publication time • Quality of reproduction • Likelihood of acceptance

  5. Which audience(s)are you trying to reach? • Researchers? • Policymakers? • Professionals? • Educators? • The media? • The public? • Other?

  6. Access—Some Aspects • Open accessibility (availability free of charge on the World Wide Web) • Immediately upon publication or • After a lag period • Availability of print versions • Ease of finding content • Because of indexing in bibliographic databases • Because of identification by search engines

  7. Impact Factor • Appears in Journal Citation Reports (associated with Science Citation Index) • A measure of how much articles in a journal tend to be cited • Impact Factor: average number of times that articles published in the journal in the past 2 years have been cited in a given year • 5-year Impact Factor: average number of times that articles published in the journal in the past 5 years have been cited in a given year • In general, journals with high impact factors tend to be more scientifically important and more prestigious.

  8. Impact Factor—Some Limitations • Does not say how much a specific article was cited • Reflects only citations in some journals • Not available for every journal • Does not reflect older citations • Not valid for comparing journals in different fields • Other

  9. Impact:Aspects Other Than Impact Factor • Effect on policy • Influence on professional or other guidelines • Effect on practice • Coverage in the media • Inclusion in teaching • Other

  10. Some Research • Frank E. Authors’ criteria for selecting journals. JAMA 1994;272:163-164. • Presents findings at one medical school • Finding: criteria for differed for first and later submissions of a paper • Most important for first submission of paper: journal's prestige; journal's readership; whether the journal usually publishes articles on the topic • Most important for later submissions: likelihood of manuscript acceptance; whether the journal usually publishes articles on the topic

  11. Journals’ Instructions to Authors • Usual locations: in the journal and on the journal’s Web site • A collection of instructions from biomedical journals: http://mulford.meduohio.edu/instr/ • Examples of instructions to authors: • Water Research • Water Science and Technology • Water, Air, and Soil Pollution

  12. Instructions to Authors (cont) • More examples of instructions to authors: • Water Resources Management • Advances in Water Resources • Urban Water Journal • Environmental Management • Water Policy • Policy Sciences

  13. Using the Journal’s Instructions • Read the instructions to authors before starting to prepare your paper. • Consult the instructions while preparing your paper. • Check the instructions again before submitting your paper.

  14. Some Questions the Instructions May Answer • What categories of article does the journal publish? • What is the maximum length of articles? • What is the maximum length of abstracts? • Does the journal have a template for articles? If so, how can it be accessed? • What sections should the article include? What are the guidelines for each?

  15. Some Questions (cont) • What guidelines should be followed regarding writing style? • How many figures and tables are allowed? What are the requirements for them? • In what format should references appear? Is there a maximum number of references? • In what electronic format should the paper be prepared?

  16. Beyond the Instructions • Look at some recent issues of the journal. Doing so can help you gear your paper to the journal. • Examples of items to notice • Structures of titles • Lengths of sections of paper • Numbers of figures and tables • Technical level of writing

  17. Thank you!

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